United Kingdom

UK - NAPF CONFERENCE: Only 19% of employers offer final salary schemes to new employees, with a further 33% looking to review their existing final salary arrangements over the next twelve months.

UK - Government moves to improve take-up of pension provision are being met with wide-scale scepticism, JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management research shows.

UK - Nearly three-quarters of staff at the department for work and pensions have considered resigning, a trade union claims.

EUROPE/UK - Prolonged equity slumps have forced European institutional investors to pump increasing amounts of assets into private equity and hedge funds, with fund of funds proving the vehicle of choice.

UK - Financial software company Quay Software Solutions has developed a package which, it says, cuts administration time for IFAs by up to 81%.

UK - The NAPF was forced to find an 11th hour replacement for its keynote conference speaker when work and pensions Andrew Smith withdrew.

UK - Invesco's head of institutional business in the UK, Sarah Bates, is leaving the firm as part of a major shake-up at the fund manager.

UK - Technical consultant Babtie Group could face industrial action unless it discloses a contractual agreement on pensions rights made for staff transferred from Buckinghamshire County Council.

UK - Deutsche Asset Management has appointed Robin Hindle Fisher managing director and member of its UK management team.

UK - Employers are tailoring schemes to worker groups in a bid to try and boost motivation among key staff, latest research from Industrial Relations Services shows.